Real Safe Spaces: Be Fully You. Be HAPI.

Written by Sheena Adams-Avery, CDT, CDP, QPR Instructor, First Aid Arts Facilitator

What does it mean to feel truly safe in a space, not just physically, but emotionally, culturally, creatively, and socially? Not just welcome, but wanted and embraced?

At HAPI (Healing Arts Project, Inc.), we believe true safe spaces begin where performance ends; where no one has to pretend to be okay, and everyone is free to express their genuine selves and expressively through art. This is where authenticity thrives. When we honor authenticity, healing becomes possible regardless of one’s background, job, identity, expression, or experiences. In these environments, healing becomes possible, and new futures can be imagined together. These are the spaces where healing takes root and where community flourishes.

We don’t ask people to check parts of themselves at the door. We ask instead: What parts of you have gone unheard? What stories have lived in the margins because the world wasn’t ready for them? At HAPI, we’re building spaces that are ready, through free arts programming, public exhibitions, publications, and outreach partnerships that lift up voices too often ignored.

Our mission is to provide artistic opportunities for people in mental health and addiction recovery, as well as those who are currently living with and/or struggling with mental health issues. We aim to create community awareness and inclusion through the healing power of creativity. But we know that healing doesn’t only belong to one group; it’s a human experience. The arts have always been a vital way to process, connect, and move forward.

In HAPI spaces, authenticity isn’t just allowed, it’s celebrated. Loudly. Joyfully. With brushstrokes and poetry, with storytelling and stillness, with collaboration and care. Healing doesn’t look the same for everyone. It might mean showing your work in a gallery for the first time, or simply being witnessed without judgment.

We’ve learned that safe space isn’t a checklist. It’s a commitment. One we renew every time we open a circle, host a class, hang a piece of art, or listen without agenda.

In a world that often tells us to shrink, HAPI spaces say: Come as you are, there’s room for all of you here.